Jalgaon train accident toll rises to 13; 8 bodies identified: Police
Jalgaon (PTI): The death toll in the Jalgaon train accident has gone up to 13 with the recovery of a headless body along the railway tracks, police said on Thursday.
Some passengers of the Mumbai-bound Pushpak Express, who got off the train after an alarm chain-pulling incident, were run over by the Karnataka Express heading from Bengaluru to Delhi on the adjacent tracks in Maharashtra’s Jalgaon district on Wednesday evening.
“Of the 13, we have identified eight bodies so far, including two from their Aadhaar cards,” Special Inspector General of Police Dattatraya Karale told PTI.
The eight identified deceased include four hailing from Nepal, Jalgaon district information officer Yuvraj Patil told PTI.
Out of the 15 persons injured in the incident, 10 were currently undergoing treatment - nine at the Pachora civil hospital and one at a medical facility in Jalgaon city- while the others who suffered minor injuries were discharged, he said.
Meanwhile, the Lucknow-Mumbai Pushpak Express reached the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT), its final destination in the Maharashtra capital, at around 1.20 am on Thursday, a railway spokesperson said.
The Central Railway's general manager and other senior officials also reached the accident spot at night and inspected the site, he said.
They also visited the hospitals where the injured persons were taken for treatment.
The tragedy unfolded on Wednesday evening when passengers onboard the Pushpak Express, fearing a blaze, hastily jumped onto the adjacent tracks and were run over by the oncoming Karnataka Express, officials earlier said.
The accident took place between Maheji and Pardhade stations near Pachora town in north Maharashtra's Jalgaon district, when the Pushpak Express halted after someone pulled the chain at around 4.45 pm on Wednesday, Central Railway officials said.
Dilip Kumar, Executive Director, Information and Publicity, Railway Board, however, denied that any spark or fire inside the coach caused passengers to pull the alarm.
In a video message from Davos in Switzerland, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Wednesday said, "Some passengers in the train mistakenly assumed that smoke is coming out of the train and they jumped. Unfortunately, they were run over by another train."
The CM announced a financial assistance of Rs 5 lakh each to the next of the kin of the passengers who died in the tragedy.
The Railway Board separately announced an ex-gratia of Rs 1.5 lakh each to the kin of the deceased, Rs 50,000 for grievous wounds and Rs 5,000 for simple injuries.
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Bihar has 41,000 centenarian voters, 143 are above 120 years
Patna(PTI): Bihar has a total of 7,80,22,933 electorate of which 41,000 are registered centenarian voters with more than 140 of them being over 120 years of age, according to the latest Election Commission data.
The total number of voters aged below 30 years is around 21 per cent while those over 80 years of age is about 2.06 per cent.
The data, shared by the office of the Chief Electoral Officer, Bihar, here on Thursday shows, the state has 16,07,527 electorates who are in the age group from 80 years to 120 years and above.
While the total number of voters who are above 100 years in the state is 40,601 (male-17,445, female-23,153 and third gender-three), voters who are above 110 years are 247 (male-120 and female-127). The total number of voters above 120 years in the state is 143, according to the data.
The number of voters who are above 80 years is 1,28,2296 (male- 61,4673, female- 66,7614 and third gender-9), number of electorates who are above 90 years is 28,42,40 (male- 11,8213, female- 16,024 and third gender is three).
The total number of registered voters in the state has increased to 7,80,22,933 from 7,72,28,467.
The district where the maximum number of 80 years and above voters are registered is Vaishali with 3.05 per cent (82,758) of the total electorates, followed by Nalanda with 2.82 per cent (67,161), Lakhisarai with 2.71 per cent (21,118), Madhubani with 2.66 per cent (92,824), Patna with 2.60 per cent (13,514), Sitamarhi with 2.59 per cent (69,558), Banka with 2.52 per cent (39,436), Nawada with 2.31 per cent (43,511), Kaimur with 2.22 per cent (27,711) and Sheohar with 2.04 per cent (6,760).
With 38,174 voters (1.36 per cent of the total votes in the district), West Champaran has the lowest number of registered electors who are above 80, followed by Madhpura with 1.39 per cent (19,672), Saharsa with 1.44 per cent (20,840), Katihar with 1.49 per cent (33,321), East Champaran with 1.53 per cent (57,152), Muzaffarpur and Gopalganj with 1.70 per cent each (61,463 and 35,724 respectively) and Purnea with 1.73 per cent (40,189), according to the data of the ECI.
